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Teach your children the most important secret!

Catch Up

This is a great game for groups of children and works with mixed ages well. You will need at least 4 children and up to 8 (any more than that and you should split them into two groups).

Age:
5+

Skills:
Patience!
Rhythm and chanting

Equipment:
2 dice
3 counters or small toys for each child

How to play

The object of the game is to be the first to win 3 counters. The children sit in a circle around a table or on the floor. Split the dice so that the oldest child has one and the child sitting opposite has the other. Put the counters in the middle.

The children who do not have the dice begin to create a rhythm by first slapping their knees (or the table) once and then clapping their hands once. When all children are synchronized they begin to chant as follows:

[Each section of the chant is marked by / and takes two beats]

/ Are you / ready? / Are you / ready? /
/ If ~ / so ~ / let’s ~ / go! ~ /

/ Roll now! / slap clap / What have you got? / slap clap /
/ Must you pass? / slap clap / Hope not! / slap clap /

Repeat the chant over as play continues.

Play can get quite hectic! At the “Roll now!” command, the children with
the dice roll - hoping for anything but a 6! If it is 6, they must pass the die to the player on their left and take up the chant.

A child wins the round when he is still in possession of a die and is passed another from the child on his right. The winner of the round collects a counter. The first to collect 3 counters wins.

Variations for older children:

Increase the speed of the chant for older children. Real professionals can begin to drop the extra / slap clap / in the game chant for a very fast game indeed!

Variations for big groups of children:

If there are 6 or 8 children playing, you may wish to increase the passing roll to two numbers - say a 5 and a 6. This speeds the game up quite considerably.

If you enjoy this game, it has similarities to Concentration (a clapping game) and The Chocolate Game (a party game)

More Dice Games for Kids

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